SHOCKED by the disappearance last week of a seized 12,000 tons capacity cargo ship, MT African Pride, from Nigerian waters after Naval personnel deployed to provide security for the ship allegedly connived with the captain, the police have sought the assistance of the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL) in their bid to re-arrest the ship.
The return of the ship was said to be crucial to the prosecution of a case involving the theft of a large quantity of crude oil now before a Federal High Court.
A Police source told Sunday Vanguard in Abuja that the ship was last year caught along the Benin river between Delta and Edo and Bayelsa states with 12,000 tons of crude oil allegedly siphoned through bunkering when it was intercepted by Naval authorities.
“It was in the ship that the 11 Russians currently facing trial in Nigeria for oil smuggling were arrested,” the source said adding, that Nigerian authorities had already removed the oil in the ship before it escaped.
Expressing shock at the development, the source said it was worrisome that a ship of 12,000 capacity which is the material evidence in the trial of the Russians could disappear into thin air.
He said that though Naval authorities had arrested the personnel involved and detained them, the police were still determined to get back the ship hence the recourse to INTERPOL.
According to the source, joint intelligence reports of both the Navy and the police are of the belief that the ship is currently in international waters between Ghana and Benin Republic.
Naval authorities on their part who were angry over the disappearance particularly when they went the extra mile to be part of the war on bunkering were said to have launched a separate helicopter search for the ship within the Nigerian sphere of international waters in case it was yet to go out.
The police source continued, “There is no way we will not get that ship. It can run but can’t hide because we have secured all necessary documents for its arrest anywhere in the world”.
On why the ship was left in high seas rather than inside Nigerian waters where it would be properly protected without the Naval personnel exposed to corrupt tendencies, the source said it was due to the fact that it was a massive ship that can only stay outside because of the shallow nature of our internal waters.
